Dancers: Printing Compositions: 2nd print

This is my print with the higher film speed, so it's more of a frozen image than a blur.

For the 1st test strip I tried it at the same settings as the last print I did.

Aperture: 5.6 Filter:2 Time:32

This was too dark, so I did a test strip at lower times. Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 2 Time: 10 + 10 + 5... Then I tried another test strip at 30. Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 2 Time: 30

These were a bit gray, so I tried a test strip with different filters.

Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 3/4 Time: 30

Then my enlarger broke, so I tried the same thing after it was fixed.

Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 3/4 Time: 30

I decided on a 3 filter, and needed to lower the time as well.

Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 3 Time: 20 + 1...

This was too light, so I did another test strip with the same settings but more time.

Aperture: 5.6 Filter:3 Time: 25 + 5...

Then I tried an A4 print at 50 seconds with the same settings.

Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 3 Time: 50

After a couple more test strips and switching enlargers, I ended up with a better quality print, although still a bit dark..

Aperture: 8 Filter: 3 Time: 50

This is part of my final print.

Aperture: 8 Filter: 3 Time: 50

Dancers: Printing Compositions: 1st print

This is my print with a lower film speed and therefore a blurry motion shot. This was my original try at my first print. However when I first started developing it we realized it was really grainy and not a good choice, so I moved onto the next one. This was my 1st attempt for the 1st print (the 2nd time). I started out with the settings from my last print attempt. Aperture: 4 Filter: 2 Time: 10+ 2... This looked good, so I tried an A4 print at 10 seconds. Aperture: 4 Filter: 2 Time: 10

This was a bit gray, so I closed the aperture (since adding a filter would make it grainier than it already was). Because I was closing the aperture, I added another 10 seconds.

Aperture: 5.6

Filter: 2

Time: 20 I then tried an A4 print at 22 seconds to see how the contrast looked in the rest of the picture. Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 2 Time: 22

This looked alright but a little light, so I did a final A3 print at 32 seconds. Aperture: 5.6 Filter: 2 Time: 32

Dancers: Image Bank

This is a picture of a traditional Las Vegas, Nevada, USA dancer, an Elvis impersonator and his fans. The lighting in this image is blurry, as are the people, a hint of the party atmosphere and frenzied movement of a Las Vegas party scene. The composition also contributes to the wild mood, since the people are cut off in odd places. It is also a close-up, which gives a more personal sense of the scene. The angle is straight on, as if the photographer is a dancer at the party along with the rest of them. Source

This is a picture of Indian classical dance in New Delhi. The lighting seems to be traditional stage lighting, with colored lighting in the background and all of the dancers' faces clearly lit. The composition seems quite complete, with all of the dancers' hands drawing attention to the woman in the center, but on a closer look we see another woman's foot in the bottom right corner. This suggests that the photographer cut out some dancers, but still gave a complete compositional effect. The angle seems to be from below, as if the photographer was in an audience below the stage, which gives an enhanced sense of the performance aspect of the dance (a rehearsed as opposed to impromptu dance). Source

This picture is of a Turkish Dervish whirler. The lighting is a warm, even tone, presumable reflecting off of the wood floors and other atmosphere pieces. The composition is, like the Indian dancers, complete although portions of other people are visible. The dancer takes up almost the entire frame, filling it nicely. He is also blurry, which along with his twirling skirt gives a suggestion of him spinning as opposed to some other movement, a key element in conveying the idea of the picture. The angle is from above, giving a euphoric feeling. It also has a clandestine tone, as if we are peering in on something we shouldn't be seeing, and gives the picture a very intimate feeling. Source

This is a picture of Tango dancers in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tango is a very traditional Latin American ballroom dance centered around the idea of romance. The lighting here is clear, but cool, bringing out the greys of the man's suit and ground, but most of all the red of the woman's dress. The composition is beautiful. The woman's head and shoulders are cut out, and the man's entire upper body is missing. Although this would normally seem very odd, with the Tango, where the idea of romance and desire are conveyed completely with the body, the face of the dancers is unnecessary, and this composition focuses instead on the beauty of the dance without the distraction of their faces. I also like the amount of empty ground space between the camera and the subjects, as the grid of the tiles enhances the strong lines of the dancers and contrasts beautifully with their curves. The angle is also important in this piece, as it is straight on, as a spectator on the street would see them. Since the Tango is the dance of the people, this seems quite appropriate. Source

This is a picture of a debutante ball in Vienna, Austria. There is bright, filling lighting which gives a happy, elegant mood to the photo. The composition is simple, but effective, showing enough people to give a sense of the large group present, but few enough people that you can see detail in the guests' clothing and faces. The composition also conveys the inner circle of the dancers, as well as the line of people standing outside that. The angle is from above, since it is hard to see detail in a ballroom dance from eye-level. This also enhances the elegant feel of the picture. Source

This is a picture of a Russian Ballet dancer practicing. Ballet is a typical dance of Russia and an icon of their culture. The lighting of this image is unusual, with the shadows peering in through the windows and revealing the city scape outside. It seems to be dusk from the angle of the lighting, which along with the dancer's passionate expression tells a nice story in the picture. Other than the shadows from the window the room is quite dark, which gives an intimate feeling. The dancer is still lit enough to be able to see detail, which makes it quite personal still. The composition of this image is interesting- the ballerina seems to be very alone in such a large, empty room, seemingly alone with her feelings and her dance. It is beautifully introspective in a sense, because the uneven lighting, spartan composition, and simple, straightforward angle all work together for an intimately beautiful piece. Source

Dancers: Diary Entry

Although this project was fairly short, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I missed the 1st class, which put me a little behind the rest, but it also gave me some interesting shots that other people didn't have. Most of my shots were from pretty far away, which didn't turn out horribly well, but I liked the poses themselves. This made the project mroe fun, but also made it harder to pick which image I wanted to develop. In terms of the processing, this project wasn't as succesful as others have been. My negatives weren't very good. They had pretty good contrast, but were quite grey, and since I was enlarging them so much they were too grainy to put in a high filter. Instead I closed my aperture, but the pictures still didn't turn out fabulously. Another problem I enocuntered was my enlarger. during the 2nd to last class it suddenly stopped working well. Even after it got fixed it was still having problems. Luckily, though, Yukun and I were the only ones still working in the dark room, so I could move to another enlarger easily and finish my print. The empty darkroom was another nice thing about this project: since I had a late start, I had the dark room pretty much to myself, which was less stressful and more efficient. I am fairly happy with my final prints.

Photo Trip: London!

Itinerary and feelings. I liked going on the trip when we were leaving, it was a lot of fun, although I was initially dreading the notion of a dozen giggling girls. But I soon made friends, and enjoyed not only the trip's educational aspect, but its social aspect as well, making a lot of fun friends and laughing sufficiently. DAY 1: Arrived in London, had dinner, went to the hotel. Food is good, so is sleep. The hotel was really nice. Sparkly floors! We also went shopping. I bought a book for my Dad. Everything else was too expensive. Sigh. Hung out with the guys, it was nice. I also got along well with my roommates. Only problem was the shower had no curtain. I guess life can never be perfect. DAY 2: We went to The National Portrait Gallery (like last year's Vogue exhibition) to se the Gerhard Richter exhibition. I really liked his style, I found it fascinating. I love art! Then we tried to recreate one of his paintings in charcoal, and I was pretty proud of how mine turned out. I guess my 1 art class paid off! Then we had to paint our own Version of Richter's work using a Newspaper image. I think I would have done a lot better on it, except that the teacher onyl let us trace for a few minutes and then wanted us to do solid color blotches instead of a paint-by-numbers technique I would have used. Unfortunately, my painting didn't turn out as well as my charcoal sketch. At all. It was still a cool experience though. I have so much more respect for painters now! Then we went to the Saatchi Gallery to see a Middle Eastern Art Exhibit. It was fascinating, but I was kind of frustrated we didn't get much time there. I would ahve liked if our guide have given us a more thorough tour, what she was saying was really interesting! I found the amount of sexual revolution pieces very interesting- I had never thought of the Middle East in such a way. But I guess that's what the exhibit was about. My favorite was probably the little city the Israeli (I think) artist made. It was so cute, but at the same time so deep. I really enjoyed my time at the museum. The free time afterwards was fun. I finally got to Starbucks! Yay! We also did a but of shopping, but I couldn't really buy anything substantial because everything was SO expensive! I was getting really frustrated... DAY 3: We went to a lighting workshop in a famous market. I think it was famous for its smell. I had to hold my breath when we went to the fish market, because it makes me nautious. Smells aside, the workshop was really helpful and interesting. We learned about all kinds of studio lighting and how to create different effects, etc. I wished I had had a paper and pen to write everything down! I though it was fascinating. I'm not sure if it was my hunger or my interest in food photography, but I kept flipping between photographing food and skinny models who coulds use it. When he was talking about the skills a photographer needs to have, I couldn't help but think of myself in that place. I think I would like it. When doing the workshop we learned a lot of cool effects, but I think we would have done better with some organization. We could have done some really cool stuff if we had had not only more freedom but more organization. I enjoyed modeling too, but it was hard to know what they wanted. DAY 4: This was the relaxation day- we had a chance to do some last-minute shopping and picture taking for our photoshop project when we got back. We went to the Camden market again which I loved. It was just as much fun as last year, although obviously I need to polish up my bartering skills! Hmm. I bought some more stuff that day and was pretty happy with the tuff I bought. We also had fun in the city when we went back, because I stoped worrying about looking for something to buy and just looked at stuff and enjoyed the experience. Then we went back to the hotel, got out luggage, and went on the plane to go home. I was exhausted, but it was well worth it!

Portrait/Flash- Diary Entry

This project went fairly well for me. I finished my project with time to spare, and am fairly happy with my final print. However, there were some drawbacks in the process.

First of all, my camera broke during the shooting stage of the project, so I not only had to take my camera in to be fixed, but also borrow someone else's camera to reshoot. In developing the film, I had difficulty rolling the film onto the reels, since I used the newer double tanks. However, I managed to get it on eventually. when processing the negatives, Yukun and I shared a tank, and he insisted I flip the tank over so that the chemicals would cover both reels equally, but the chemicals instead flowed into the empty space at the top of the tank, so I think hurt the processing in the end. my negatives also ended up with the top and bottom sides darker than the middle, which I think was caused by the developing process. It was frustrating doing my prints because I finished a print and then couldn't use it because it was cropped at a weird place. Then looking at my contact sheet we realized that they were all cut off in weird places, which was frustrating. I'm satisfied with my final print.

Narrative: Image Bank

"Donna," as she refers to herself on her internet blog, is a photographer with her own business (wild creative photography). She teaches at a Primary school part-time and has 2 daughters. She is from Southern Australia. Learn more here!

I was drawn to this photo because it's so light and happy. The child seems so free, and I think that emotion really gets to the viewer. I like this sifferent take on narrative photography also- instead of a real "story," it's more of a series of events that conveys a feeling more than anything.

Kristina Drobny is a 29 year old photographer currently living in Burlington, Vermont, USA. She has an MFA in photography. She takes narrative photographs, trying to tell a story with a single shot. She enjoys the control she gets from sealing her models' fate.

I was drawn to this picture because it's weird. It's funny. But it also tells a very curious story st the same time, perhaps making it funny in the first place. What is he covered with? SHaving cream? Is he shaving his whole body? Is it soap? Potato salad? I don't know, and the picture definitely makes me want to find out.